The parking capacity has been sized to meet minimum local zoning requirements, however, additional parking will be provided for adjacent existing buildings that do not have adequate parking. Preferred parking will be provided for carpools/van pools (serving 5% of the building occupants) as required for this credit. Calculations will be provided as part of the application submittal to substantiate the parking required for the adjacent existing buildings. Is it possible to capture this credit even though the TOTAL parking provided at this site exceeds the minimum local zoning requirements for the new building due to the fact that we are providing the additional parking for the adjacent existing buildings?
If calculations for the project indicate that at least 5% of the building occupants are served by preferred parking for carpool and vanpools then this part of the credit is achieved. The critical question you have is whether the parking area on THIS project site (the project applying for LEED certification) can exceed the minimum local zoning requirements for parking in order to provide sufficient parking for adjacent buildings (projects NOT applying for LEED certification). The credit states that for NEW projects the minimum parking required by local zoning should be the maximum provided; and for REHABILITATION projects no new parking is provided. If the buildings were considered individually, as LEED is structured, then neither the new building nor the existing building would comply. By pooling together buildings selectively to achieve one credit but not the others is not possible. Therefore, it is not possible to capture this credit if the minimum local zoning requirements for parking are exceeded. Applicable Internationally.